When I was younger, I was continually sucked into the “pink think” attitude. I have an older sister, and she happens to be quite girly. If she announced that her favorite color was pink, I followed shortly with the statement that my favorite color was pink. I did not grow up with very many girls whose mothers did not dress them with little bows in their hair or did not let them take their Barbies to show and tell.
This is the way we’re raised. It’s called “pink think” by writer Lynn Peril. And I think it is a completely accurate way of labeling it. It starts when we are little, as I mentioned previously. It is not considered normal for a young girl to hate dresses, loathe bouncing pigtails with ribbons, and long to go outside and tumble around in the mud with her friends (who just happen to be all boys).
When girls grow older, they notice more examples of it in the television, as Peril points out. The “joys of housewifery” are displayed clearly on nearly all sitcoms. One can rarely find a television show with a mother or grandmother that is not either a stay-at-home mom, pregnant constantly, or always cooking or cleaning.
In my own life, I find things that make this statement true (although I am not nearly as girly of a person as I used to be): the places I work are nearly overrun by women. I work at a children’s toy store, and a chocolate shop. At the first, the only people who work there are women and gay men—other than my boyfriend, that is. Women are supposed to be more attracted to working with children than men are, apparently. At the second, the only men who work there do the “manly” jobs, such as running the big machines and working in the warehouse.
If this is not typecasting, I do not know what is. Women have grown up on the concept that we are to take certain roles and enjoy certain things. Granted, this is changing. But the idea is still there.
Through the textbook’s examples I have come up with another phrase that could define our world and how we relate to each other: “conformity think.” As I base my life on wishing to not settle into any stereotype, the world in general seems to enjoy placing people in stereotypes.
In fact, people are more comfortable this way. The way people gravitate towards other people with similar fashion style, music taste, and even ethnicity is astounding. Take my group of friends as an example. Though I am not racist, sexist, or opposed to associating with people who have different views on things, my closest friends are white girls who have all grown up in the Midwest, never listen to rap music, and are all very driven people when it comes to school and jobs. Thus I say that although America claims to be a very diverse nation, I believe that different people groups still have problems with integrating together.
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I said that pinkthink is dead. Or at least dying, in the broad spectrum. I think that most conservative people, like a lot of the people we live around, might still believe in the standards of pinkthink, but the country is changing and becoming more radical.
ReplyDeleteI said that Pink Think was dead or alive, depending on how you were raised. There is no real way of being 100% positive as to who follows this "theory" without asking. Since you had an older sister who was raised during the "stronger" period of pink think, your family had you do the same. In contrast to you, I have an older brother so I was not pink think or blue think. I just kind of did whatever I wanted after I reached the stage of dressing myself and actually looking normal.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see some diversity in ideals in this class!
I totally agree that it is considered out of the normal for a girl to loathe dresses and 'bouncing pigtails'. I was one of those girls when I was little, and I was considered out of the ordinary. Luckily, many girls in my community were all raised this way and were all considered tomboys like me!
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